Improving
Writing Skills through Collaborative Writing
A technique in teaching writing is to present grammatical
rules and rhetorical conventions. Although this technique is common in writing
pedagogy, it seems to neglect the practice of writing. This chapter reports a three-semester
longitudinal study of undergraduate EFL writing classes employing collaborative
writing. From the first to the third
semester, the students were taught the mechanics of writing in Indonesian and
English; essay writing in Indonesian; and short story writing in Indonesian and
short essay writing in English. By the
end of the third semester, questionnaires were administered to elicit students’
perception about collaborative writing. Students seemed to be more enthusiastic
about short stories writing rather than essay writing. Through collaborative
practice in groups, students were empowered to develop confidence, authorship,
and enjoyment of being part of the writer community. In conclusion, I would
propose that to develop EFL writing skills, we should focus on the process
rather than product, quantity rather than quality, fluency rather than
accuracy. I would also suggest that literacy in the first language be developed
earlier than that in EFL, and short story writing be taught earlier than essay
writing.
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Alwasilah, A. C. (2004). Improving writing
skills through collaborative writing. In B. Y. Cahyono
& U. Widiati (Eds.), The
tapestry of English language teaching and learning in
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